To not understand what this parent was thinking?

[Frequency]

While out with my rottweiler x this afternoon, I noticed he was panting more than I was comfortable with, so I abandoned our walk and took a detour to the nearest shop to buy him a bottle of water.

I crouched down at the edge of a very wide path to give him a drink. I wasn't paying attention to what was around me because I was watching the dog, and no one had any reason to be near us anyway. The pavement is about 8 feet wide on that street, if not wider. We were right at the edge, by the shop window.

The second I stood up, there was a toddler, eye-to-eye with my dog. He must have run up behind me while I was kneeling. He was literally nose to nose with the dog, reaching his hands out to grab/stroke the dog's face.

My dog is friendly but a little wary of small children, so I tend to keep him away from them.

Luckily, DD was with me and had spotted the kid and managed to hold his hands before he grabbed the dog's face and loudly told him, "Sorry, he's scared of kids, and he's just trying to have a drink, can you leave him alone, please?" She had to say it loudly because his mum and her friend had continued walking and were now a good 10 feet away from us. At this point, the mother then shouted at her other small child (around 7 or 8) to "get the baby," so the dog now had 2 kids to contend with while the mother kept walking away, ranting about how the young girl was supposed to be "watching the baby."

DD has anxiety and was really shaken by it, and can't stop thinking about how much worse it could have been if our dog were not friendly, or if the kid had managed to grab the dog's face and spooked/hurt him.

I still just cannot fathom what the mother was thinking, allowing her toddler to run up to a strange dog who was obviously eating/drinking, get nose to nose with him to try to grab him, and then send a second child over after she's made aware he is not a friendly dog?

Surely it is common sense to know that nose-to-nose with a strange, large breed dog, who is eating/drinking, is not a safe place to be, no matter how friendly the dog is?

For protection. Friends with dogs like this don't get harassed as much (when a teenage gang was bothering people in town recently, my friend with a Doberman was the only one they didn't bother). And most of the "intimidating" breeds are fine if bred and trained well-though any dog, horse etc for that matter, can lash out if startled-so can some people if a stranger grabs them suddenly.

The entitlement of dog owners never ceases to amaze me.

One child is worth more than all the dogs in the world combined.

My late husband used to be quite annoyed about parents allowing their children to approach strange dogs and poke at them. (No, we didn't have a dog but DH did have when he was younger.)

As he used to say, anyone would react if they were grabbed by an ear or poked in the face.

Are you calling the OP entitled for not wanting an unsupervised toddler to rush up and grab a strange dog's face whilst he is drinking?

Owner? What owner 🤣🤣

The entitlement of parents never ceases to amaze me. It is not my job to parent your child. If you want your child to interact with my dog, ask me first and supervise the interaction to make sure your child doesn't do anything stupid, like, for example, grabbing my dog's face while he is drinking.

Oh don't be daft.

Why is a dangrous dog like a rottweiller even out in public if it is known to be unpredictablec and a risk to the public.

This. How can a toddler be blamed in this scenario? Aren't these dogs supposed to be illegal anyway? I hope you have a muzzle on him.

I haven't heard that they're illegal

I have.

In your opinion.

If you read the OP she’s not blaming the toddler. And no, rottie crosses aren’t illegal.

Your daughter helped very well.. how old is she?

You're saying A Rottweiler/beagle is illegal?

This is hilarious. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
dogs were here before humans and are allowed to share our space as much as any other animal.
How about bone idle parents start controlling and keeping an eye on their children- especially in public, a dog is the least of their concerns at the moment!!!!!!! It’s always someone else’s fault isn’t it.

Dogs don't have soulful eyes.

With this kind of cretinous dog-worship it's easy to see why we're in the state we're in

Any dog could be dangerous when scared. We have a golder retriever that is trained to work with children and adores them. She reliably responds appropriately when approached by children, including the just-walking baby that grabbed her nose for balance once. However, I would never leave her alone with a child and I am regularly shocked by stupid parents who allow their children to approach her without knowing a thing about her.

The OP's point is that dogs should be treated like traffic, steep drops, heavy machinery. You don't allow your children to run up to them and grab them. If you do and your child gets hurt, that is on you.

Lots of dogs are wary of small children if they’re not around them frequently.

Kids are unpredictable, they run around, make loud noises etc, so lots of dogs can hear easily spooked around them, it’s a natural reaction.

Intimidating? As intimidating as candy floss!

He's adorable. I wouldn't have guessed part Rotti. Love Rotties.

how old is your DD?

she did exactly the right thing, we'll doneher. How old is she?

The child's mother was being neglectful. The child could have just as easily run into the road. Or had its face bitten by a more aggressive dog.

She's 23. Apologies if I made it seem like she's a small child herself. My kids are both adults, which is why my dog is unsure about children. He doesn't know any.

She has four dogs of her own one of them is mine, but I don't tell her that because then I'd have to pay for him. She was walking with me and my dog to keep me company in exchange for me helping her walk her own dogs because she can't manage all four at once.

The parent obviously didn’t agree with you or she’d have been keeping more of an eye on her toddler.

Yes they can have soulful eyes.

cretinous dog worship 🤣🤣🤣

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Cuuuute!

🤣🤣🤣

To be fair, the average dog is cuter than the average baby (even if I’m not a dog person) 🤣